Albert Heijn trials driverless robot that delivers groceries to your door

DutchNews, July 15, 2019

Coming soon: fresh ‘bezorgde burgers’. Photo: Albert Heijn

The largest Dutch supermarket chain, Albert Heijn, has begun a trial of a ‘delivery robot’ that sends groceries out to its customers without the need for a driver. 

The electric vehicle, which has a range of eight kilometres, is being tested within the confines of Eindhoven’s High Tech Campus as it is not allowed on the open road. The Aitonomi robot has been developed by the Swiss-German technology firm Teleretail. 

Staff pack the groceries into the ‘bezorgrobot’ before the vehicle makes its way to the delivery address using cameras and sensors. Customers will still need to step outside to collect their shopping. 

Andre ten Wolde, of pizza chain Domino’s, told NOS that previous test runs with delivery robots had been successful, although the vehicles struggled to get over high kerbs. 

Ten Wolde said the biggest challenge was finding a legal way to enable the vehicles to travel on public roads without compromising safety. 

‘Lawmakers will have to think carefully about it, I accept that,’ he said. ‘You don’t want accidents such as we’ve had with the Stint. Once legislators are ready for it, we’ll see them in the streets here.’

Dutch insurance company inks first self-driving car policy

DutchNews, October 11, 2017

Artist’s impression: Amber One

Centraal Beheer, the car insurance unit of financial services group Achmea, has become the first company in the Netherlands to cover shared self-driving cars, the company said on Wednesday. 

Achmea’s subsidiaries Centraal Beheer and Interpolis insure 2.3 million vehicles between them, making the group the country’s largest car insurer. 

The arrival of self-driving cars has turned the car insurance market around, management board member Robert Otto said in a statement. What is clear is that the days of setting insurance premiums by accident history are over, he said. 

Achmea reached agreement on Tuesday afternoon to insure the Amber One, a completely electric self-driving vehicle which is to come into production in 2021. Amber is a start-up company based at Eindhoven university’s High Tech Campus. 

The Amber One is seen as an ideal shared car because it will be equipped with software which determines where and when demand for the car is highest. But this bring problems in particular with determining whether the driver, the developer of the software or the manufacturer are liable. 

Under terms of Achmea’s agreement with Amber, self-driving car insurance will be developed alongside the car itself. 

Damages are certain to be higher due to electronics and software used in the car, Otto said. A simple collision with a lamp post will far more expensive with a self-driving car than with a traditional car, he said. ‘We already have that experience with electric cars.’ The Amber One will be fully electric but the parts will be readily interchangeable.

Self-driving bus passes first road test

DutchNews, July 18, 2016

Driverless buses could be in
service by 2020.

Self-driving buses have been tested on the open road for the first time between Schiphol airport and Haarlem. 

The buses are equipped with 20 cameras that can react to traffic lights and programmed to travel in the middle of the road. A driver sits at the controls ready to step in if the automatic system fails, BNR reported. 

The goal is to have the first automatic buses in service by 2020. ‘I think it’s going to be a while before we can be driven around automatically in any kind of vehicle,’ said Edith Post, of the North Holland provincial assembly, at the official launch in Amsterdam. ‘But we think it’s important to make our roads accessible and carry out these kinds of tests.’

Dutch to push for EU-wide rules for self-driving cars Europe

DutchNews, April 6, 2016

Photo: Jarino via Depositphotos.com 

Dutch infrastructure minister Melanie Schultz is hoping to reach a deal with her European counterparts on standard rules for self-driving cars. 

Next week’s meeting of transport ministers in Amsterdam will mark the start of efforts to draw up cross-border rules to deal with technologies such as adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance systems and blind spot monitoring. 

‘The treaty of Vienna dates from 1968 and states a driver must always have control over his vehicle or – and you can see how outdated it is – his animals,’ Schultz told car magazine Autoweek. ‘We need to make new agreements.’ 

‘We need to see how quickly we can do this and how we are going to harmonise the rules,’ Schultz said. ‘And I want my colleagues who are not active in this – and there are a lot of them – to see the advantages of self-driving systems.’ 

Schultz has made self-driving cars a key part of her transport policy and wants the Netherlands to play a leading role in developments. 

Steering wheel

In January, trials of the driverless WEpod shuttle buses began in Wageningen on the university campus roads. The buses, which have no steering wheel or pedals, are electric and have a maximum speed of 25 kph. 

If the campus trials are a success, in June the shuttles will begin to use public roads, travelling a pre-programmed route between Bennekom and the Ede-Wageningen railway station. 

Schultz told Autoweek unified agreements are crucial in a single market. ‘It would be extremely irritating to have to reset the self-driving features in your car every time you cross the border,’ she said.

Dutch get ready for road trials of driverless car

DutchNews, January 28, 2016

Experiments with self-driving cars will take a new direction on Thursday when the WEpod trials in Wageningen take to the university campus roads. 

The WEpod shuttle buses, which have no steering wheel or pedals, are electric and have a maximum speed of 25 kph. 

If the campus trials are a success, June will see the shuttles begin to use public roads, travelling a pre-programmed route between Bennekom and the Ede-Wageningen railway station. The Dutch driving authority RDW has given official permission for the trials to take place. The project owners say this is the ‘test phase of the first pilot in the world of a self-driving vehicle on a public highway‘. 

The shuttle buses cannot be used at night or in bad weather and each will have a steward on board who will use a joystick control on two busy sections of the route. 

The WEpods project is a joint venture between the Gelderland university, Delft University, the TNO research institute and others. Gelderland province has put €3.4m into the project as part of its efforts to find flexible and more sustainable options than traditional regional bus services.

Dutch motor on in driverless car trials

DutchNews, Esther O’Toole, November 24, 2015

Experiments with this French driverless car begin on Dutch roads next year.
Photo: Wepod

The Netherlands is flat and has a lot of straight, overcrowded roads, so it is perhaps hardly surprising that the government has made experimenting with driverless vehicles a central part of its infrastructure policy. Google may plan to eliminate the need for drivers within five years and Tesla has a three year deadline but the Dutch want to play a leading role as well. 

Two years ago, Amsterdam’s A10 ring road was the setting for a test of self-driving cars, developed by the TNO research institute and scientists from Delft University. The aim of the Dutch Automated Vehicle Initiative (Davi), which also involves the transport ministry, is to develop a user-friendly system which can be built into new and existing cars. 

Last year, the TNO research institute started working with DAF, Rotterdam’s port authority and the transport industry lobby group TLN to develop self-driving lorries. 

Then this January, ministers approved the large-scale testing of self-driving cars and trucks on public roads in the Netherlands, arguing the technology could cut jams, improve road safety and reduce pollution. The cabinet wants the Netherlands to take a ‘leading role’ in the development of self-driving cars and systems to allow vehicles to communicate with each other. 

Moving fast 

Since then the transport ministry has been busy looking at the ethical ramifications of automation, registration, liability questions relating to insurance and revisions to the 1968 Treaty of Vienna which governs EU traffic laws.

There is a sense that everything is moving very fast and ‘more tests are planned, though there are no concrete dates yet’, transport ministry spokeswoman Marianne Wuite told DutchNews.nl. 

Delft University professor Riender Happee, who is closely involved with the Davi project, said funding so far is going towards tests on the quality of radar and cameras, human-machine interaction on the road, and work on online platforms for the detection of damage to sensors and bad weather.

‘Very rapid steps are being made towards safe integration, at low speeds, with all kinds of traffic,’ he told DutchNews.nl. ‘In the future, every self-driving car will itself know exactly which roads it is allowed to drive on and at what speed.’ 

Eyes on the road 

Despite the government’s enthusiasm, public scepticism and anxiety around automated vehicles does remains high. When Tesla was given the green light to roll out its autopilot software in the US this October, road safety experts in the Netherlands were quick to test it out for themselves. 

The Dutch vehicle licensing authority (RDW) concluded the upgrade – more improved ‘driver assistance’ capability than ‘autopilot’ – should be allowed on roads here, meaning the 2,000 Dutch Tesla S owners will be able to use it immediately. 

‘We have different rules here than in the US and over 60 different safety points that vehicles have to meet,’ said spokesman Hans van Geen Huizen.  ‘Many of these cruise control and automated parking functionalities are already in other brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz as well as the earlier version of the Tesla.

‘What is new is that the Tesla can now indicate when you should change lanes or overtake and no other car has that functionality. It is a steering support system not an ‘autopilot’ and you definitely still need to keep your hands on the wheel.’ 

The Driver Experience

Over at Dutch motoring organisation ANWB, they’re watching developments with a keen eye.

‘We are satisfied with the ambitions and the role the Dutch government and Dutch companies are playing within this field. When compared to other European countries, and especially considering our relative size, we’re punching above our weight,’ said spokesman Markus van Tol.

In Gelderland, trials using a French autonomous vehicle known as the EZ10 to run passenger services on public roads are poised to begin in January. The Wepods project is a joint venture between the province, Delft University, the TNO research institute and others. 

Unlike previous tests in Finland, Switzerland and France or similar driverless buses like the Rotterdam Rivium Shuttlebus, the vehicles will be operating on public roads for the very first time, carrying up to six people between Ede and Wageningen.

Top speed 

The Wepods have no steering wheel or brake pedal, a top speed of 25km and can be hailed with a mobile app. Though there will always be someone in charge of the emergency stop mechanism, the idea is to explore the possibilities for passenger vehicles with no driver at all.

‘The Wepods are a whole new ball game for us,’ said RDW spokesman Arjen van Vliet. ‘We need to take interaction with other road users into account. We’re consulting with a traffic psychologist on that. There’s a very rigorous exemption process for such projects. It’s an interesting time.’ 

Delft University’s Happee says the Davi programme is linking together many national and international partners. ‘There are many differing opinions as to when fully autonomous vehicles will become commercially available, but the technology is close,’ he said.

Related Article:

Insurers ask who should pay for a self-driving car crash?

Insurers ask who should pay for a self-driving car crash?

DutchNews, November 23, 2015

The arrival of self-driving cars means everyone will have to have all risk insurance, according to the Dutch insurers association VVV. 

Both drivers and technology will be responsible for ensuring safe driving, giving rise to complex claims and responsibilities, the organisation says. 

Currently, drivers who are deemed to be responsible for traffic accidents have to pay the victims but this will become more complicated when software and technology has a role, said VVV spokesman Rudi Buis.

‘Determining who is responsible will take time and will be longer before payouts are made,’ he told BNR radio. 

Bastiaan Krosse, who heads the automated driving programme at research institute TNO said decisions out insurance need to be taken now, before the self-driving car becomes a reality.

‘If nothing has been sorted out and there is continued uncertainty over responsibility, then there is a major problem,’ he said.

Dutch road safety experts worried about Tesla self-driving system

DutchNews, October 26, 2015

Dutch road safety organisation VVN said on Monday it is concerned that motorists with the new Tesla Model S, which can be fitted with a self-driving system, will be tempted to take their hands off the wheel. 

The US car company has been given the green light to roll out its autopilot software all over the globe and that means 2,000 Dutch owners will also be able to use it, the Telegraaf says on Monday. 

The package includes an ‘auto steerage’ system which automatically keeps a car in a lane and away from the vehicle in front. The car can also park itself, change lanes and warn about blind corners. 

VVN says it is worried about the impact on road safety. Even though Telsa itself says drivers should always keep their hands on the wheel, ‘owners will not be able to resist temptation’, the organisation said. ‘And we do not consider this to be responsible.’ 

The VVN says self-driving software should only be permitted when it has been shown to be 100% safe. There are many videos in circulation showing near accidents involving the Tesla S, the organisation pointed out. 

Tesla says the autopilot system does not relieve the driver of responsibility. ‘Tesla Autopilot functions like the systems that airplane pilots use when conditions are clear. The driver is still responsible for, and ultimately in control of, the car,’ the company said in a statement.

Related Article:

Tesla installs 'autopilot' update on its electric cars

Tesla installs 'autopilot' update on its electric cars

Yahoo – AFP, Sophie Estienne, 15 Oct 2015

The new autopilot software will allow the Model S vehicles to steer within a lane, 

change lanes by tapping a turn signal as well as parallel park on command 

(AFP Photo/Robyn Beck)

San Francisco (AFP) - High-end electric vehicle maker Tesla is taking a major step toward self-driving cars by installing new autopilot software Thursday in North America to automatically change lanes, manage speed and even hit the brakes.

Self-driving capabilities -- previously limited to cars tested by technology titans such as Google -- hit the streets "overnight" with the latest Tesla Version 7.0 software, the company said Wednesday.

The feature, unveiled Wednesday, is being added to thousands of Tesla's Model S cars already on the road. By June 30, Tesla had already sold nearly 80,000 of the four-door sedans.

Tesla says it has sold nearly 80,000

 of the four-door Model S sedans (AFP

Photo/Josh Edelson)

The so-called Version 7.0 software is due to hit the European and Asian markets next week after obtaining the required authorization.

"We're being especially cautious at this early stage so we are advising drivers to keep their hands on the wheel just in case," Tesla founder and chief executive Elon Musk told reporters.

"In the long term, people will not need hands on the wheel, and eventually there won't be (steering) wheels or pedals."

Autopilot allows Model S to steer within a lane, change lanes by tapping a turn signal and manage speed using "traffic-aware" cruise control.

The car can also scan for available parking spaces, alert drivers when one is spotted and then parallel park on command.

A year ago, the California-based company began equipping Model S cars with radar, cameras, ultrasonic sensors and other hardware to begin incrementally introducing self-driving capabilities.

But the new software has its limits. It still can't recognize the color of traffic lights, though it can alert drivers to parking spots.

On its website, Tesla acknowledged that "truly driverless cars are still a few years away."

"Tesla Autopilot functions like the systems that airplane pilots use when conditions are clear," it explained.

"The driver is still responsible for, and ultimately in control of, the car."

The autosteer capability is still in beta form, Musk stressed, adding that the system would be updating itself systematically across the whole network of connected cars.

Tesla sold about 11,580 Model S cars during the third quarter.

Model X SUVs, which the group put on the market several weeks ago in a limited release, are also due to get the software.

But vehicle owners will have to pay an extra $2,500 for the autopilot software, either at the time of purchase or later.

Driver still in charge

Tesla founder and chief executive Elon Musk

 said the new autopilot software was being

 added to its Model S vehicles (AFP Photo/

Jan Hennop)

Alongside the connected car, autonomous driving is one of the new buzzwords in the automobile sector.

Most automakers are rushing to invest in driverless technology, seen as the future in the industry.

What makes Tesla stand out, however, is the fact that the cars are electric. The company boasts "supercar acceleration" that allows vehicles to go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds.

Among the best developed autopilot prototypes is Alphabet's Google Car, already on the road in several US states.

The Google car uses the same technology as its fleet of Lexus SUVs, which has logged about a million miles (1.6 million kilometers).

Mercedes presented a futuristic car with a traffic-jam assist that allows the car to steer, brake and accelerate on its own at slow speeds.

Earlier this month, Toyota presented a car that can drive itself along a highway.

The car, a modified Lexus GS, uses sophisticated sensors to navigate roads, merge lanes and overtake other vehicles.

The company hopes to make other cars with similar features available within five years, in time for Tokyo's hosting of the Olympics.

But South Korea's Hyundai has warned about the complex legal challenges of self-driving cars.

While fully autopilot systems without any human involvement could be ready by 2025, such technology would also bring with it "huge, huge challenges for our legal systems," European operations chief Thomas Schmid cautioned.

"Who is responsible for what? I'm not convinced until now that is a process which can be done in the next 10-15 years."

Indeed, existent law does not yet allow for completely autonomous, driver-less cars on the roads. And consumers will also have to adapt.

Dutch company launches plan for recycled plastic roads

DutchNews, September 17, 2015

An artist's impression of how the plastic roads would work

Dutch company KWS Infra is developing a new sort of road made from recycled plastic. This, the company says, will not only cut down on plastic waste but reduce CO2 output from road building and usage, and make roads more sustainable and safer. Esther O’Toole reports. 

An estimated eight billion tons of plastic is floating around in the oceans and 55% of our plastic waste is still incinerated. Innovative Dutch companies have been busy looking at feasible ways of fishing the plastic out of the sea and shipping it to shore. Now KWS Infra, part of the VolkerWessels construction group and the biggest road builder in the Netherlands, has come up with a plan to turn that kind of plastic waste into roads. 

The roads themselves would be made from prefab sections prepared offsite from 100% recycled plastic and brought en masse to the building site, with road markings and guard rails already in place. Being light weight and easy to transport they could take months off construction times. 

The fabric is thought to be more durable than asphalt and needs little or no maintenance, being weather proof and impervious to weeds. The other major advantage is that they are hollow allowing space for piping, electric cables and – another hot topic for VolkerWessels – internet connections. 

Internet 

VolkerWessels is now investing in multiple projects for urban renewal and connected city innovation, including placing internet receivers along roads, be they antennas and masts or embedded in street lights and wind turbines. Plastic roads fit into this picture perfectly. If the space inside the decking could also be used to house net connectors, losing reception in a tunnel would become a thing of the past. 

Driverless cars, cheap and affordable ones too, will be on the open market as early as next year. What benefits will be reaped from these innovative technologies when they begin to converge? With uninterrupted mobile internet connections along all main highways, a long commute could be set to become the most productive part of the day. 

No wonder then that VolkerWessels is not having trouble garnering interest for their projects. Rotterdam city council was the first to show interest in piloting the PlasticRoad, in early July. 

Interest 

Since then the company has had interest from cities all over the world and are looking to finalise partnerships with plastics and recycling experts soon, spokesman Anne Koudstaal told DutchNews.nl. The aim is to have a team in place by December and to run a feasibility pilot within three years.

‘We are feeling very positive about it,’ he said. ‘All the good reactions [to July’s announcement] are a huge boost for us and the idea. It makes it all seem so much more realisable.’ 

If all goes to plan, the roads themselves may in turn be recyclable. This would bring PlasticRoad completely in line with the ‘cradle to cradle’ notions of the circular economy being implemented by other innovative ideas such as The Ocean Clean Up Project and the Plastic Madonna art project. 

The Netherlands, despite being one of the smallest countries in the developed world by land mass, has one of the highest carbon footprints per capita; especially in relation to fossil fuel use and cement production. Cutting emissions related to road usage and building would seriously reduce that footprint. Especially when one considers that the road network in the country covers approximately 135,470 km and most of it is tarmacked.

Related Article:

Delft student raises $2m through crowdfunding for plastic soup plan

An impression of how the system might look. Photo: Ocean Cleanup

A driverless future could be nigh - or not

A future in which electric cars drive themselves and be hailed through a smartphone app may be closer than we think. Or not. Chris Cottrell reports from the International Transport Forum in Leipzig, Germany.

Deutsche Welle, 29 May 2015

Google self-driving car

It's fitting that the movers and shakers of transportation policy have descended on Leipzig this year for their annual summit. It was here that two of the Romans' massive, intracontinental trade routes once converged, and it is here that global leaders from the fields of trade, transit and tourism have been discussing the future of mobility.

Buzz words at the International Transport Forum (ITF) have included autonomy - as in autonomous, or driverless, cars and trucks - electromobility and the sharing economy.

More than a few people here have raised the possibility of a future in which urban centers are entirely void of gas-guzzlers piloted by humans. Self-driven, battery-powered vehicles are the goal, they say. Some are eagerly waiting for these prophecies to come to fruition; others are investing heavily to ensure that they do.

A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group forecast that Germany would have self-driving cars on the Autobahn by 2017 and in cities by 2020. By 2025, commuters here could be sharing nearly every roadway with fully autonomous cars.

"This is a visible signal that mobility is changing," German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said moments after arriving at the transportation summit in a pilotless BMW i3, a sleek, black SUV that rolled to a gentle stop outside Leipzig's trade fair grounds.

Big changes

The auto industry is in the throes of big, often eye-popping changes and Germany's engineering and design prowess has put its carmakers in a unique position to get behind a possible shift to a driverless future.

A few floors up from where Dobrindt arrived, luxury carmaker Audi was showing off how those changes have manifested themselves in a virtual semi-driverless cockpit of the future, dubbed "James 2025."

This Delphi automotive Audi Q5 is fitted with laser sensors, radar and multiple
cameras (AP Photo/Delphi)

It wasn't a full prototype, just two black fabric front seats and a dashboard, but it was turning heads all the same. Sebastian Hinzmann, an engineer in the group research division at Volkswagen, Audi's parent company, said the model was based on the A6.

Audi is of course already testing its self-driving cars on a specially allocated stretch of the Autobahn in Bavaria. Just two months ago, Dobrindt took a spin there in a souped-up Audi A7 named "Jack" that was equipped with autopilot technology.

But what set "James 2025" apart from "Jack" were the extra bells and whistles. Push two buttons on the black leather steering wheel morphs into an airplane yoke-like control and sinks into the dashboard, while a sleek instrument console with touch controls softly pings the driver to alert him or her of any imminent danger.

Audi says consumers will first be able to get their hands (so to speak) on its semi-driverless technology in 2017 in the A8 model. But it's not only German auto giants that are hedging their investments for the future.

Bill Ford, the great-grandson of Henry Ford and executive chairman of the Ford Motor Co., said in an interview with Bloomberg that he was aware that car and truck sales wouldn't be enough to guarantee his company's existence for another 100 years.

Urban migration

Ford's remarks added another layer to a debate that has been going on here as well about urban migration and how to prevent crippling gridlock as more people flock to cities. There has been ample speculation in the last few days in Leipzig of the potential benefits that could befall urban centers if all vehicles in cities were one day driverless.

"If we replace all the private cars and all the buses in a city, just leaving the metro and the shared, autonomous cars, we would need only one-third of the vehicles and 10 percent of the parking space," said Jose Viegas, the ITF's secretary general.

But ITF economist Philippe Crist isn't so sure. Not because fleets of shared, electric cars that run on autopilot wouldn't reduce congestion and eliminate the need for parking, but because there's no guarantee that's where things are headed. There is precedent for cities being blindsided by trends they did not expect.

Asia, for instance, and China in particular is home to a majority of the world's 21 million electric vehicles. But rather than cars, drivers there get around on battery-powered two- and three-wheelers. That's compared to the roughly 500,000 electric cars that are registered around the world.

"The model for replacing a fuel car with an electric car - the same car, same size, different drive train technology - that's not the winning electromobility strategy in the world," Crist said. "The real winning strategy is a small, low-range, light, city vehicle."

He said this was allegorical for what may happen with the rollout of automated vehicles too.

"Many expect these vehicles to be used the same way," Crist said. "I wouldn't put my money in the bank on that."

Green lights for our self-driving vehicle prototypes

Google Blog, Friday, May 15, 2015   

When we started designing the world’s first fully self-driving vehicle, our goal was a vehicle that could shoulder the entire burden of driving. Vehicles that can take anyone from A to B at the push of a button could transform mobility for millions of people, whether by reducing the 94 percent of accidents caused by human error (PDF), reclaiming the billions of hours wasted in traffic, or bringing everyday destinations and new opportunities within reach of those who might otherwise be excluded by their inability to drive a car.

Now we’re announcing the next step for our project: this summer, a few of the prototype vehicles we’ve created will leave the test track and hit the familiar roads of Mountain View, Calif., with our safety drivers aboard.

Our safety drivers will test fully self-driving vehicle prototypes like this one
on the streets of Mountain View, Calif., this summer.

We’ve been running the vehicles through rigorous testing at our test facilities, and ensuring our software and sensors work as they’re supposed to on this new vehicle. The new prototypes will drive with the same software that our existing fleet of self-driving Lexus RX450h SUVs uses. That fleet has logged nearly a million autonomous miles on the roads since we started the project, and recently has been self-driving about 10,000 miles a week. So the new prototypes already have lots of experience to draw on—in fact, it’s the equivalent of about 75 years of typical American adult driving experience.

Each prototype’s speed is capped at a neighborhood-friendly 25mph, and during this next phase of our project we’ll have safety drivers aboard with a removable steering wheel, accelerator pedal, and brake pedal that allow them to take over driving if needed. We’re looking forward to learning how the community perceives and interacts with the vehicles, and to uncovering challenges that are unique to a fully self-driving vehicle—e.g., where it should stop if it can’t stop at its exact destination due to construction or congestion. In the coming years, we’d like to run small pilot programs with our prototypes to learn what people would like to do with vehicles like this. If you’d like to follow updates about the project and share your thoughts, please join us on our Google+ page. See you on the road!

Posted by Chris Urmson, Director, Google Self-Driving Car Project

Google Executive Points to Self-Driving Cars as Key to Future Highway

Jakarta Globe - AFP, Apr 22, 2015

Google’s Chris Urmson, right, shows a Google self-driving car to US Transportation
 Secretary Anthony Foxx, left, and Google chairman Eric Schmidt, cener, at the
Google headquarters on Feb. 2, 2015 in Mountain View, California, US. (AFP
Photo/Getty Images/Justin Sullivan)

Detroit. Self-driving vehicles hold the key to reducing traffic fatalities and will transform the automobile industry, a top Google executive predicted on Tuesday.

Ray Kurzweil, a leading expert in artificial intelligence who joined Google in 2012, told the annual conference of the Society of Automotive Engineers that the rapidly declining cost of computing power and the advances in artificial intelligence will make autonomous driving a reality.

Kurzweil told the audience that autonomous driving, utilizing artificial intelligence, is definitely coming.

 

“The technology works. It’s not far away,” said Kurzweil, though he was not prepared to say just when self-driving cars will become a common sight.

“Google advised me to share with you they don’t know the answer… The technology is not going to be introduced until it’s ready.”

The need and value of autonomous vehicles is clear, he told hundreds of the industry’s top engineers.

“Google cars have gone close to a million miles without incident,” he said.

“Some day an autonomous car will cause an accident and it will be big news. But while we’ve been talking several people have died from human drivers.”

Autonomous cars “are ultimately going to save millions of lives,” he said, noting that traffic accidents kill 1.2 million people worldwide a year now.

“They also provide more efficient use of roads and parking lots. There are a lot of benefits.”

But he said Google was not going to let its self-drive cars into the market “until they’re safe.”

“They have to be much more reliable than the technology they replace.”

The appearance of the original Google Car prototype touched off a race among the world’s automakers.

Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Nissan have set up engineering centers near Google’s headquarters in Silicon Valley to focus on self-driving technologies.

Part of sharing culture

“People will still buy cars,” Kurzweil said.

“But the Uber model with self-driving cars will become very popular. We should share our cars. I think that model will grow when we have autonomous cars.

“Every company has to reinvent itself. Not everything is predictable.”

Kurzweil said that until now the transportation industry, including the automobile business, has not been considered part of the digital world.

“But we see information of every kind coming into every form of transportation,” he added.

At the same time, the price of digital information is dropping dramatically.

Kurzweil said disruptive technologies become feasible at different times. Search engines, such as the one developed by Google, became practical in the late 1990s because of the exponential growth in computing power.

If you tried to build a search engine after that you “missed your opportunity,” he said. “But if you are running a business you can anticipate when changes will occur.”

“There is one is one aspect of the future you can predict reliably,” Kurzweil added.

“The price performance and the capacity of information technology follows a very predictable path and that path is exponential, not linear.”

As for slower-moving technologies like batteries — the key to more electric cars — he predicted longer lasting batteries in 10 to 15 years, at a “more mature phase of nanotechnology where you can manipulate matter on the atomic level.”

Other technology, such as solar power, is developing more quickly than many experts expected.

“Solar power is growing exponentially. It’s doubling every two years. In many parts of the world, it’s reached parity with fossil fuel,” Kurzweil said.

Agence France-Presse

An Apple car? Computer firm hires automotive engineers

Reports suggest Apple employees are designing and building a car

The Guardian, Rebecca Ratcliffe, Saturday 14 February 2015

Dozens of Apple employees are researching automotive products.
Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

Apple is reportedly hiring automotive engineers to work at a top-secret lab in Silicon Valley, fuelling rumours that the company may be designing a car.

Dozens of Apple employees led by managers from its iPhone unit are researching automotive products, according to the Financial Times. It reports that the company has poached the head of Mercedes-Benz’s Silicon Valley research and development unit, while Sir Jonathan Ive, senior vice-president of design at Apple, has held regular meetings with automotive executives and engineers.

Designing and building a car would mark a huge change of direction for the computer maker, which researches and discards plenty of projects but has so far mainly stuck to its core expertise in mobile and electronic devices.

Apple, much like its closest rival Google, is trying to incorporate its software into cars. It may be hiring extra staff to shore up its CarPlay project, which lets drivers access contacts on their iPhones, make calls or listen to voicemails without taking their hands off the steering wheel. But the background and seniority of the executives it is recruiting have prompted speculation that Apple may be trying to move into car design.

The Wall Street Journal reports that sources with knowledge of the company say it is working on an electric car. The newspaper quotes one person as saying a vehicle that looks like a minivan has been designed.

Apple commentator Bryan Chaffin, of the Mac Observer website, speculated earlier this month that Apple had entered a hiring war with electric car maker Tesla, recruiting staff with an expertise in cars.

“Three months ago, I would have said it was CarPlay,” the FT quoted a person who has worked closely with Apple for many years as saying. “Today, I think it’s a car.”

It is unlikely that any resulting product would be released soon because the research lab was only set up late last year and Apple lacks a manufacturing facility.

Google released the latest prototype of its driverless car last May, after spending years developing the vehicle.

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